Ohio State Football: 3 Keys to Beating the Hokies in the ‘Shoe Saturday Night

Ohio State’s 17-point victory over Navy last Saturday was a little too close for comfort. Buckeye fans are not accustomed to seeing just six points on the board at halftime. Neither is Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, and he told Bill Landis of the Northeast Ohio Media Group the poor play starts up front.

Very disappointed,” Meyer said. “There’s a standard set of offensive line play for many, many years, and it’s really been enhanced by Coach Warinner the last two years. That didn’t resemble an offensive line at Ohio State for the first two quarters.

Meyer, tradition and a defense filled with elite talent led to lofty expectations this season, but it is obvious there is no substitute for experience. With eight new starters on offense, no one should be surprised that it took a couple of quarters to get going against the Midshipmen. The offense won’t have the luxury of a slow start this week.

Ohio State takes on Virginia Tech at 8 p.m. ET Saturday in Ohio Stadium. This will be the Buckeyes’ first difficult nonconference game under Meyer. The Hokies might be unranked, but they have been one of the most consistently good teams for the past 20 years under head coach Frank Beamer. The Buckeyes are in for a battle, as Virginia Tech wants to end Ohio State’s 25-game regular-season winning streak and get back to being among the best in the FBS. Ohio State must play considerably better to hold off the Hokies.